Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, July 25, 2021—The internal network of the Iranian opposition movement the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) has played an important role in breaking regime censure on protests in Khuzestan protests against water shortage. Known as the Resistance Units, this network has sent out many footages and video clips from the protests despite the regime-imposed internet blackout.
On July 23, one member of the MEK's Resistance Units on the ground in the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan told Newsweek that the situation is "explosive."
A MEK supporter, Zohre, a 25-year-old law graduate who told Newsweek: "At the beginning, the demonstrations were peaceful and there was no violence on the part of the people. But unfortunately, the regime responded with bullets."
"It started with water, but the core problem is the regime itself," Zohre said. "The regime cannot solve the real problems of the Iranian people… We've been witnessing for decades the plunder and the exploitation of the wealth of the Iranian people, the crimes of this regime. One might think that it's only the water problem, but it's absolutely not."
The MEK has expanded its network in recent years despite repression and a series of arrests against its members and supporters inside the country. The regime has arrested many MEK family members and sympathizers since supporting the MEK is heavily punished.
In recent days the MEK’s Resistance Units organized a vast campaign across the country in support of Khuzestani protesters.
In cities such as Tehran, Eslamshahr, Ahvaz, Qom, Dezfoul, Saveh, Siahkal, Kazeroun, Bukan, Kermanshah, Urmia, Mashhad, Shiraz, Yazd, Nazarabad (Alborz), Kuhdasht, Isfahan, and Kazeroun the Resistance Units took to graffiti spreading anti-regime slogans such as “Down with Khamenei and Raisi,” “Rise up in support of Khuzestan protests,” and “Democracy and Freedom with Maryam Rajavi.”
In Tehran, Tabriz, Ramsar, Nishabur, and Kermanshah, the Resistance Units also hung huge posters of Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The posters echoed slogans such as “Our demands are summed up in three words: freedom, democracy, and equality,” “We will never give up the struggle for freedom and democracy for the Iranian people,” and “We will overthrow the regime leaning on the support of the Iranian people.”
These activities were also simultaneous with the commemoration of the anniversary of the nationalizing of Iranian petroleum under the leadership of former Iran’s Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh. The Resistance Units hung posters of Mossadegh and the Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi from various bridges in cities such as Tehran, Hamadan, Rasht, Karaj, Kermanshah, Lahijan, Kerman, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Lahijan, Kuhdasht, and Eslamshahr.
These banners and posters read, “Mossadegh taught us patriotism” and “Mosadegh was the symbol of political will of a nation.”
During the sham presidential election of the “butcher” Ebrahim Raisi, the MEK’s internal network published thousands of videos of empty poll stations despite the regime claiming a 48 percent turnout. These videos and reporting came from 1200 MEK reporters across Iran.
